Perpetually Looking Forward

Cybercrime has been on the rise for years, but a variety of factors have resulted in recent spikes in cybercriminal activity. The pandemic is one of these factors. 

InvestmentNews has recognized Simon Quick Advisors as a 2022 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors. Simon Quick was chosen as one of this year’s top-75 firms based on employer and employee surveys, evaluating company culture, benefits, career paths, and more.

Equities logged another tremendous year for returns in 2021, generating over 28% on the S&P 500, with a strong fourth quarter rally of 11%. We have seen significant resiliency in the index since the ’08 Global Financial Crisis. Even if you were to have started investing at the beginning of that year, which experienced a 37% decline, you would have annualized at an impressive >12% return to date. In fact, there was only one calendar year where returns were negative after the GFC (-4.4% in 2018), and only two other years (2011 and 2015) where returns were not in the double digits. It was easy to be an investor in this cycle. But…the Fed had been highly accommodative to risk assets during this time.

The pace of sell-off in equity markets accelerated today (Monday, January 24th), down almost 4% around lunchtime, on top of the 7.7% sell-off experienced in the first three weeks of this year. This move put equities formally in a stock market correction for the S&P, which follows the earlier sell-off in small caps and growth indices.

I was talking to a friend last week, and he told me about his daughter who is in her twenties and pursuing a career as an investigative journalist. The entry level salary she expects to earn would prohibit her from living in a doorman building in her city and he was concerned about her safety. He told me that he was considering supporting her, and that it was worth it to him to have her in a safe environment, at least until she progresses financially to a point where she can support herself.

Throughout my career as a financial advisor, I’ve had the privilege to work with many highly successful business owners and executives. Many of my clients take time at the beginning of the year to think about what they want to accomplish in the year ahead and create a plan to achieve their goals. As their advisor, it’s my job to help them plan financially and set themselves up for a powerful and productive year ahead. 

Every holiday season we like to give thanks to those who helped make it another great year. From our outstanding clients to our innovative team, we have a lot to be grateful for. At Simon Quick, our mission is to give our clients the freedom to pursue what matters most to them, and this year we created a video to share our story and our purpose. This new video, below and on the homepage of our website, explains why we do what we do and what motivates us to serve our clients every day.

After taking a pandemic-induced hiatus, Simon Quick once again has office locations in New York City and on Long Island. Our firm has a long history of serving clients in the New York metropolitan area, so we are thrilled to offer the convenience of these locations to our clients and business partners.